Brilliant Blood
by wickedlfairy17
Summary: A letter, just a few lines on a piece of paper, and it was enough to change the entire world. At least Tony's entire world, now he couldn't imagine ever going back. He loved being a dad.
1. Chapter 1

**Brilliant Blood **

**Chapter 1: The Letter**

Tony looked at the letter in his hand one more time, glanced up the wall helplessly and then down at the letter to read it for the tenth time. He had met the beautiful red head one night in a bar in central London, she was drinking depressed over the fact that her husband had been caught kissing another woman and that she didn't think they could reconcile it. She had been drinking, crying over her 'ruined marriage' and he had been drinking celebrating his first night in England. They had just closed the deal with England to update their defense systems and he had wanted some company.

He had always had a weakness for beautiful red heads, especially smart beautiful red heads, and Lily Potter had been that. The fact that she was technically married, well, that had never stopped him before…especially when he was drunk. Their few days together had been a blur of drunken pleasure and were one of his more memorable trysts since Lily had been so firmly mysterious. He hadn't managed to find out anything about her, no records after her eleventh birthday, and not one slip in their haze of satisfaction later.

Lily had just been one of those women that had been hard to forget, he had been fascinated and he had been sad to see her go to try to reconcile with her husband. Tony had even fancied himself in love with her for a bit before cooler heads had prevailed. He hadn't given their days together a second thought but now that he thought about it…there had been one or two times were he hadn't used…protection. Usually he was so careful about that…so careful… plenty of women had been after the Stark fortune in one form or another for him not to take precautions.

But Lily was a _passionate_ woman, honest were it counted and almost heart breakingly genuine. The woman hadn't even been with anyone else besides her husband before Tony had seduced her. It had been unbelievable that a woman as beautiful as her had never been touched by more than one man. It had been a crime! It had relaxed his guard, she was just so vibrant, and _innocent_.

It crushed his heart reading this letter because it only meant one thing.

'If your reading this letter it means that I'm dead, along with my husband, and now you're my only hope…'

That beautiful, smart, vibrant, innocent woman was dead.

'I was pregnant…I wasn't ever going to tell you…you have a son…his name is Harry James Potter.'

He was a **father**, Lily was dead, and there was a baby out there that needed him.

'James and I were going to raise him as our own. James didn't want to tell you…I agreed because I didn't want you to think we wanted anything from you.'

The important question was where was his son now?

'If things go as I suspect they will, you should find Harry at my sister's, Petunia Dursley. She lives at Number 4 private drive, Little Whining, England.'

What was he going to do with a baby? He'd never even had a dog growing up, what was he going to do with a kid? Children had always made him uncomfortable; they were just so…babyish. Babies were like a blank hard drive that you can download with a whole lot of junk if you're not careful and Tony had _**never**_ been described as **careful**. What was he going to do with a baby?

For a moment he contemplated leaving him with Lily's sister but it was dismissed in a second. That was his son, his baby, and Tony wasn't known for being able to _share_ well. Which started a new line of thought entirely, what could he do with a baby? Well, he certainly needed to at least do a blood test to confirm it was _his_ kid to begin with that was a start. Then, if the baby was his he was going to need things a baby needed, clothes, toys, cribs, food, and diapers.

He shivered at the thought of diapers…he was going to need a nanny. Someone who would be discrete, under contract to keep her silence, and he had to look for someone who wouldn't try seducing him or using the baby to get to him. Thorough background checks would need to be done, obviously. The thought of clothes had Tony imagining dressing the baby in matching outfits with him like his own mini-me. The cocky smile that brought made that a definite plan; he would need an exact replica of his wardrobe in baby form!

He laughed, "Jarvis have Happy schedule the jet to be ready in an hour. I'm going to England." Tony said as he began to move around getting ready.

"Yes sir, shall I alert Miss Potts to your departure?" Jarvis said in return.

"Ah, yeah no! Strictly a stealth mission Jarvis, In and out with no one the wiser." Tony said as he contemplated what to wear when he went to get his baby. What does one wear to go pick up a baby you didn't know about until the mother's death? Was it a formal occasion? Or could you get away with something more casual?

Driving through Private drive in Little Whinging was probably rated at the top of the most likely to never ever do again in his most horrible experiences list. Tony didn't understand the need for a place that every house looked exactly like the house beside it down to the way the grass was cut and the color of the trim. It was the most monotonous sight Tony had ever had the displeasure of seeing in England and it was something he would gladly avoid doing again in the future.

He decided right then that even if the kid wasn't his he would take him and get him away from this Stepford wives nightmare. When they pulled up to Number four Private Drive Tony made Happy get out and double check that it was the right place…just to be sure they hadn't gotten lost in this twilight zone nightmare.

Petunia Dursley was probably the most foul tempered woman Tony had ever met, and that was saying something. It was amazing to think that beautiful kind Lily could have an evil horse faced ugly sister…it made Tony nervous over what other unpleasant surprises could be in Lily's genetic line. Perhaps a full bout of test were in order, all the hereditary diseases, all the environmental ones and all the rest he could think of were in order. The house was kept almost clinically clean and if the smell of bleach was anything to go by Tony was going to have to get the baby tested since the smell alone seemed to have killed a lot of brain cells in Petunia's child.

Tony very nearly groaned in relief when Petunia said she had to get Harry from upstairs as she had put him down for a nap. For a moment Tony had been scared that beach ball that Petunia said was a baby had been Harry…Tony decided that test needed to be underway as soon as possible. He certainly didn't want to contemplate the horror of finding out that Harry had inherited or was carrying any of the genes he had seen so far.

Petunia roughly handed him the sleeping baby when she came back, and Tony was so surprised it took him a moment to situate them both. Then Tony got his first look at Harry and very nearly slumped to the floor in relief, he looked so beautiful. Harry had his wild black hair, his nose, but Lily's mouth. Harry was still sleeping like a rock so Tony couldn't tell what color his eyes were but he hoped Harry had managed to get his mother's eyes. Lily had the most beautiful big green eyes Tony had ever seen and it would be a shame to not have those in the world with Lily's death.

After Petunia had shoved a blanket in his hands she practically shoved Tony and Harry out the door. When he asked, she said that the blanket and the pajamas where the only thing she had gotten when they 'left Harry on her doorstep like spoiled milk'. Tony was more than happy to go and Happy only looked mildly surprised to see him carrying a baby…Happy had been his driver long enough to know when to not ask any questions.

Lucky Harry drooled a bit as he was sleeping and Tony got to run the blood test to prove the little guy was his to begin with. Not that he doubted Lily's claims but he rather be certain than left wondering. A few minutes later Tony was wondering why he was surprised to see the confirmation and why that left him with a rising sense of panic. He was a Dad.

It took almost the entire ride to the airport to for that fact to really sink in and for Tony to manage to get his nerves under control. Oh, he was still in a blind fear mode about whether he would be a good dad or not…but at least now he was functioning. Harry was beginning to stir as the jet took off but Tony was busy getting all the documents lined up with on hand to notice. He got a birth certificate, his guardianship of Harry handled, and he had sent out a few emails he needed to handle before they touched down in LA.

So it startled Tony when a very small baby voice suddenly said by his ear, "Hiii." Tony turned and saw the biggest pair of emerald green eyes looking up at him and his heart suddenly felt too big for his chest at the same time it squeezed painfully. Tony had never been one to believe in love at first sight, seemed like only something superficial could come of that but now he was a believer. He loved the small boy in his arms more than he had ever loved anyone in his life…including himself and he was very fond of himself.

"Hi," Tony said surprised at how choked his voice sounded…he refused to acknowledge that burning build up behind his eyes that could only be tears. "I Harwee, you?" Harry said smiling. Tony noticed that he had almost all his teeth with some surprise, in fact he realized he knew very little about babies and their expected growth.

"You?" Harry said again as he put his tiny hand on his face to get his attention, Tony noted how tiny his hand seemed in comparison with some fear he realized how fragile Harry was. "I'm…uhhhhh…"Tony began before floundering…he didn't feel like he had earned the title 'daddy' yet but that was what he was…he didn't know what to say. "I'm your daddy," Tony said resigned.

Harry looked confused for a moment before he looked at Tony very seriously, or at least as seriously as a baby could Tony thought. "You Daddwee?" Harry said as if he was genuinely considering Tony for the role. "Okawee," Harry said simply as he patted his hand on Tony's cheek. Tony felt his heart do that disturbing growing squeeze thing again and wondered if this would become a habit. Harry settled down in his lap after a while and quickly became more fascinated with Tony's laptop than with Tony. Tony was happy to show him how to use the paint program he had quickly downloaded for Harry and they had a blast drawing funny looking shapes.

Tony was convinced by touchdown that Harry was a genius like his dear old dad and was already making plans for hiring a team of advance tutors. No public or private school was good enough for Tony…even his old private school had been substandard in Tony's opinion…not that his father had listened to him. Tony was determined to give his son only the very best, and privately he admitted that unlike his own father Tony wasn't too keen on sending his son away for school.

It had only been a few hours together, only a few broken conversations as Tony tried to interpret baby talk valiantly and still Tony admitted that with every passing minute he had fallen more and more in love with Harry. His little boy was just so perfect, so smart, so silly, Harry's laugh was probably the happiest thing he had ever heard. By the time Happy got them home Harry was passed out in Tony's arms and Tony was quietly glad the crib hadn't arrived yet. He didn't want to let the little guy go.

So while Harry slept peacefully in Tony's arms Tony had Jarvis track down exact replicas of his entire wardrobe in baby sizes. Tony freely admitted he went a little crazy on the clothes, his tailor had been very confused at the order for replicas of his custom (very expensive suits) but Tony didn't actually care. He had Jarvis download a practical library in baby rearing booking onto his tablet and then he had settled down into his favorite couch with Harry to read.

Eventually he got distracted by surfing the web for a whole arsenal of toys for Harry when he came across possibly the most adorable pajama set for Harry. It was footy pajamas that were styled to make Harry look like the ewoks from Star Wars and he had to order one for Harry…then of course he had to get a set for himself to keep up with his mini me image. Then he decided that the toys out there simply weren't good enough for Harry and started to make plans to make his own versions.

Before Tony knew it the sun was coming up and Harry was waking up. A few minutes later Tony was never so happy that Lily had been an ambitious woman and had potty trained Harry already. Though Tony knew he would need diapers Asap before any accidents happened. "So mini-me what would you like for breakfast?" Tony asked. Harry's face screwed up a bit in the cutest thinking face Tony had ever seen…not that he'd ever, ever tell anyone that….

"Boobarwee Pancakawees?" Harry said. Tony smiled, "You got it champ!" Privately ecstatic that his baby seemed to love blueberries as much as he did and Tony got to work making pancakes. Tony had never been so grateful that Pepper had insisted on stocking his kitchen despite his protests. Making blueberry pancakes with Harry's 'help' was an experience…Tony didn't think he had laughed that hard in a long time. By the end they were both covered in flour, somehow Tony had gotten blueberries in his hair and Harry's face was dyed purple in damning evidence of his blueberry poaching.

They enjoyed their fruits of their labor happily after that, though Tony kept the syrup away from Harry somehow they both managed to end up sticky with it nonetheless. So Tony decided that the next step was of course a bath, Harry was excited for bath time and Tony felt childishly enthusiastic about it too. Needless to say by the end there were bubbles everywhere (even on the ceiling) and they both had wild hair.

Since Harry's clothes hadn't arrived yet Tony put him in one of his Ac/Dc shirts that he had a multiple of and donned the same one himself. The shirt was ridiculously big on Harry managing to slide off one shoulder even though Tony had bunched it in the back. The picture Harry made was very adorable, and Tony was happy to concede to Harry's request to play the 'draweeg gam' again. This time of course he had the holoscreen at his disposal so they were just crouched down on the ground drawing 3D interactive doodles laughing hysterically when Pepper came storming in.

She was lecturing him about not showing up to a meeting with the French foreign dignitaries half way through her rant before she noticed Harry and stopped. "Hello," She said to Harry confused before she rounded on Tony with a pointed look that plainly said 'explain or die'.

"Pepper this is Harry, Harry this is Pepper, Harry is my son I found out about yesterday," Tony said with typical blasé attitude. "Hiiii," Harry said waving at Pepper.

"Well, I wish I could say I'm surprised but I have been expecting something like this to come up for a while," Pepper said sighing as she plumped down on the couch. "So how much of a fight are we looking at for custody?" Pepper said as she scrolled through her vast contact list looking for a lawyer willing to put up with Tony.

"None," Tony said as he passed Pepper Lily's letter before going back to play with Harry. Pepper to her credit only looked like she was gonna cry for a moment after reading it and then she got down to business. "Well, we'll need a nanny…can't very well bring Harry into board meetings," Pepper began as she got up to pace.

"One that will be discreet, won't try to seduce you, and will look out for Harry…should we hire a bodyguard as well? Harry will be a much easier kidnapping victim then you," Pepper listed as she scrolled madly through her phone not noticing how pale Tony got as he picked Harry up protectively. "Maybe I can find a male nanny with combat training? You don't seduce men too do you?" Pepper asked eyeing Tony who tried his best to look indignant at her line of questioning. (There had been that one time in college but she didn't need to know that!)

"Okay, so male nanny, combat training, who won't try to seduce Tony…hmmm…maybe two combat trained nannies so they can rotate shifts? I assume you already got clothes for Harry coming," She paused to see his nod and moved on, "so baby food, need to child proof the house, and some toys for him," Pepper mumbled.

"Hey! I'm gonna make him his own custom toys," Tony interrupted. Pepper looked at him critically in the eye, "Nothing that explodes, launches projectiles or as sharp corners Tony," She ordered. Tony nodded but silently pouted inside.

**A.N. So this one has been buzzing around in my head for a while. Lol I would place this happening about thirteen years before the events of Iron Man 1. Robert Downy Jr. was actually in his mid forties when he shot those movies so I think it is fair to say this happened in his late twenties early thirties when he reclaimed the company from Obadiah. Young and foolish I would say, lol but this is pure Tony. Also, considering Tony Stark built himself a mini-arc reactor out of a box of scrapes in a cave I would say that technology is more advanced in a world with Tony stark as a result of him just being him. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Walking with Ewoks **

**~Pepper~**

When Pepper came into the house she heard the tell tale sound of Star Wars playing throughout the house, there seemed to be piles of packages everywhere and she assumed that some of Tony's orders had come in. It had been two days since she had met Harry and she had been too caught up trying to find nannies to come visit again. In the mean time she had been looking into the paperwork Tony had on Harry and had decided to come confront him on it today.

Tony had been the last man she had thought would be eager to be a father; he was just so reckless and childish for her to imagine it. However, in the year she had been working for him Pepper had actually come to expect something like this to happen, true she had thought it would be one of his trashier one night stands coming to 'cash in' as it were. It was incredible sad that Harry's mother had been killed of course, but it was also very fortunate legally for Tony.

When she came into the living room ready to confront Tony on his less than legal paperwork on Harry, she stopped dead and had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing. Tony was passed out on the couch Harry in his arms…and they both were in Ewok styled pajamas! Harry had a penciled in goatee on his face that was exactly like Tony's in what Pepper could only assume was permanent marker. Harry was passed out on Tony's stomach and both were cuddle together snoring softly.

They looked like a pair of teddy bears and Pepper took out her phone snapping a few pictures before she moved to wake Tony. He grumbled groggily at her and cuddled Harry more before reluctantly opening his eyes. "What?" Tony yawned.

Pepper narrowed her eyes at him, "Tell me you didn't hack into England's system to put your paperwork through and forged Harry's birth certificate among other important things!" She hissed whispering for Harry's sake.

Tony blinked, "Well I won't tell you then," He grumbled moving to go back to his nap.

"Tony! You don't know how serious this is! You can't just pick up a seventeen month baby and take him home like some stray puppy! There are channels you need to go through, legalities to be considered! What if someone looks into it and tries to take Harry from you!" Pepper whispered furiously.

Tony looked at her from the corner of his eye and huffed, "I know Pepper, I was careful, I did everything in the proper way at least it will appear to anyone looking into it that way. What I did was just speed up the process, I filed everything exactly as they would have, and no one will be able to tell besides it would have taken too long to do it the normal way. Christmas is coming up at the end of the month and I plan to spend it spoiling my son." Tony said seriously as he tucked Harry under his chin.

Pepper resisted the urge to laugh suddenly, only Tony could talk so seriously while wearing ewok pajamas as if it were nothing. "I managed to track down some candidates for the nanny positions, I'm having Jarvis run a full background check now and we have some referrals from Rhodey too." Pepper said distractedly as she paced the room.

"Great now let me sleep woman, Harry kept waking up in the middle of the night, he's a night owl like his daddy," Tony said sounding smug and cross at the same time.

Pepper huffed, "Well I have the child proofing crew coming in later today try to be awake to let them in. Get anything sensitive out of your room I don't need to deal with a tech leak right now. I have Glenda coming in tomorrow to decorate Harry's room; she is a highly sought after home décor stylist, please try not to insult her. Getting her in this soon and this close to Christmas is nearly impossible and I don't want to have to do damage control should you offend her." Pepper said typing furiously into her phone.

"What are your plans for Christmas? Should I have a tree delivered?" Pepper said absentmindedly.

"Yeah a huge one, with ornaments!" Tony grumbled.

"Okay, I'll see if I can get them in here by the end of the week. I've cleared your schedule until mid January, so you can spend time bonding with Harry but after that you had better come back. I can hold down the fort for a while, do your job and mine, but you're the company's face Tony. You need to be seen!" Pepper said seriously.

"Okay, okay!" Tony whined.

"Now you're sure you want to keep Harry's existence out of the press?" Pepper asked suddenly.

"Hell yeah! If they don't know he exists then the bad guys won't know he is kidnappable!" Tony growled.

"Alright then, I am going to commandeer Jarvis main system tomorrow, I have black mail for most of the editors on the west coast but the east is a bit spotty. And if you plan to take him overseas I'll need to get those publishing houses too. I expect it'll take a full twenty four hours, maybe thirty five." Pepper said.

"Okay but try not to overwork Jarvis I'm still dealing with glitches from last time you had him dabbling in foreign servers." Tony grumbled.

"Noted, but I make no promises, threats will need to be delivered ASAP before anything about Harry is leaked. You're too high profile they are always digging, I had to hire a better security company after that paparazzi got that picture of you with that blonde model. A glass house, really Tony," Pepper said looking at the walls as she rolled her eyes.

"Hey! I installed the dimming system after that didn't I?" Tony said.

"Yes, yes, but just leave Jarvis to me starting tomorrow. I'll let you know as soon as I'm done," Pepper said as she bustled around picking up some of the mess. She eyed a fort made out of boxes with some amusement; Tony was having way to much fun playing with his son it would seem.

"I'll tell the cleaning service to stop by early today so that most of this is cleared out before the child proofing service gets here," Pepper said. Tony just grunted in acknowledgement.

**~Tony~**

Harry went running squealing happily away from his hands and Tony laughed at him. "I'm gonna get you!" Tony said in his best monster voice as he grabbed at Harry. Harry squealed laughing before he pulled himself onto the couch for some height he brandished his play sword and grabbed a pillow as a shield.

"No Dadee!" Harry cried as he waved his toy sword at Tony wildly, "I'm dee hero! Bad guys can't ween!" he said seriously as he poked at Tony's belly with surprising strength.

Tony groaned dramatically, "You've got me, Captain America," he groaned and grunted as he lay out on the ground in his dying scene. Harry laughed at him and jumped from the couch to his stomach brandishing his pillow shield proudly. Tony really groaned this time but he endured as the smile on Harry's face was worth it.

"What do you want to play now Mini-me?" Tony asked from his place on the floor. Harry sat on his chest and began to play with Tony's goatee again laughing at the tickling feeling of the hair against his hands. "I know buddy! How about we put that engine back into that chopper I'm working on!" Tony said as he got up swinging Harry to tuck him under his arm.

Harry giggled, "Fly Dadee! Fly!" he said flapping his arms. Tony grinned and boasted Harry up into the air making air plane sounds as he walked towards the garage. The next two hours were a trial of patience and keeping a hawk eye on Harry since every so often he was tempted to stick something into his mouth. Harry had a blast getting Tony wrenches and tools.

Tony was beginning to realize just how smart his little boy really was, Harry already knew how to read a bit, sure he struggled but it was still impressive. Harry could talk, mostly, but he was getting better every day. He knew his colors, and recognized numbers well enough. Tony was contemplating getting him tutors since Harry was so freaking smart. Harry could probably get his elementary and high school credits out of the way if they did home schooling.

It was certainly an option. Not that Tony was very eager to take the play out of Harry's life but the little guy seemed so happy to learn things Tony doubted he would mind. Harry was just one of those kids that to him, learning was play, hell when Tony had started to show him how to play the piano Harry had not wanted to stop. Tony had been stuck trying to remember half forgotten lessons his father had forced on him and combining the pieces of songs he remembered how to play.

Harry had enjoyed it though so Tony thought he would look into a nice music teacher for him. Tony certainly wouldn't stick Harry with an ancient grumpy hag that rapped his knuckles every time he messed up like Tony's father had. Harry's tutors/teacher would have to be screened carefully so that Tony knew they would be sweet, nice, and patient with Harry.

Tony remembered all too well what it was like being forced to learn from miserable old people that sneered and were nasty to him. His father had been older than the norm when Tony had come into his life and had very little patience for Tony. So he had fausted raising Tony off onto various tutors and nannies while his parents ran around the world. His mother had been a very cold woman, more interested in what she wanted to do next than what Tony was doing.

He remembered trying so damn hard to get their attention, and it never worked out well for him. Tony had made a silent promise to himself years ago that his children would know without a doubt that he loved them and would make time for them. Harry had been a surprise but not a bad one. It was Tony's chance to prove to himself that he could be better than his father in this one thing, being a dad.

Still that didn't mean Tony wasn't all for giving Harry a head up in life, tutors, private lessons, and such things. It wasn't the knowledge Tony resented from his childhood, it was the hostility of the teachers he had that he hadn't liked. Harry was a lot like him, always asking questions, in the two weeks they had been together Tony had lost count how many time Harry had stopped him to ask him questions. Not silly questions either, Harry wanted to know things like what made a car move and how birds flew.

Tony was childishly excited about Christmas, he had bought Harry a lot of course but he was also making up some things for him too. Harry grinned up at him; Tony took in the Ac/Dc shirt, the designer jeans and the converse sneakers fighting back giggles. It was an exact mirror of what Tony was wearing and he was actually quite enjoying having his own mini-me. It made him feel like a super villain and any moment Tony felt the urge to tap his fingers together saying, 'excellent' in a very Mr. Burns way.

Later while Harry was munching on pizza as they watched Winnie the pooh on Tony's big screen Tony thought that his life had taken a sudden upswing. Before Harry Tony was always coming home to a cold empty house and had been admittedly very lonely. Tony noted the need to hire a personal chief soon to make home cooked _healthy_ meals for Harry and him. Last thing Tony wanted was Harry turning out to be a little chubby rich kid.

Tony texted Pepper telling her to keep an eye out for a chief and she messaged back an affirmative. Pepper was a god send, without her Tony was very sure he would be completely lost. Tony freely admitted it had gotten to the point where he couldn't make a decision on anything without running it by Pepper first; in fact picking up Harry had been the first time in two years he had made a choice without Pepper's opinion. The woman had completely ruined him, Tony made a note to give her another raise again soon before the other sharks starting sniffing around her trying to steal her with a better wage.

Pepper was a smart woman though, every time some other CEO offered her more cash to come over to 'the dark side' Pepper just told Tony the rate offered and he immediately gave her twice it. It kept both of them happy, she was highly paid for her invaluable work and he didn't have to think about running the day to day of the company. Almost absentmindedly Tony remember that he hadn't introduced Obadiah to Harry yet…ahh he'd get around to it eventually.

**A.N.: So I've made some adjustments, these events are still taking place roughly thirteen years before the events of the first Iron Man movie. I have adjusted Tony's age though, he is in his early twenties…I'd say 24…so yeah. Nothing big. Hoped you liked it! Read & Review **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Fighting EMP**

**~Pepper~**

Pepper had gotten used to walking into a lot of strange situations since becoming Tony Starks 'go to girl' and had thought there were very few things that could surprise her anymore. However, as she stared at the picture before her Pepper thought maybe she had been wrong. As was becoming an increasing habit she took out her phone and snapped a few pictures before she started talking alerting Tony and Harry to her entrance.

Tony was sitting in a chair in nothing but red and gold tighty whiteys with a pair of white socks on his feet. Harry was in an identical get up on the table rubbing his cute baby belly and fidgeting. Tony was in the process of scanning Harry with various instruments while Jarvis was displaying incomprehensible (at least to Pepper) stats on the holopad. "Do I want to know?" Pepper asked.

Tony just continued scanning Harry saying, "About what? The outfits or the scans?"

"Both I suppose," Pepper said.

"Well, I guess the outfits are because of the scans. The clothes Harry was wearing were interfering with my readings so they had to go. Harry has noticed the established trend of our matching outfits and insisted that my clothes had to go too. Naturally I agreed to his logically deductive argument." Tony said as he had Harry open his mouth for a saliva sample.

"Ok so what are you scanning him for? I thought we agreed after the Christmas Eve fever scare that you would get a private physician for him that would make house calls or rather you would call me to arrange it." Pepper said as she shuffled the folders in her hands.

"I'm scanning Harry because he seems to be the origin of the random EMP attacks on the electronics in the house." Tony said as he snipped some hair off of Harry's head.

Pepper looked at Tony in disbelief, "Ok so what? Harry's sending out EMP waves…how?" she said.

"That's the point of the scans, to find out how, so that we can either find a way to stop it or protect the tech." Tony said helping Harry hop down from the table before he finally turned to give Pepper his attention. "On the bright side the army has been bugging me to find a way to shield against EMPs since that incident in Cuba so if I do finally work a way around it we have a new contract with the potential for extreme profit." Tony said smugly.

"I've been trying to get you motivated to work on that for months!" Pepper said indignantly.

"Well maybe you should work on your motivational skills, Harry has been a great motivator on this issue by terrorizing Jarvis, and destroying half the Christmas gifts I got for him. He was very upset by that and I'm finding his tears are great motivators of innovation for me. I already have something in the works to protect Jarvis and now I just have to figure out a way to shield the rest." Tony said smirking.

Pepper sighed, "Next time I'll be sure to threaten your toys to make sure you're more motivated to invent." Pepper said slyly. Tony quickly realizing what he had just done looked at her in horror before shaking his head at himself. "On a side note I finally have two nanny/bodyguards that I think are suitable." She said as she handed him two folders.

Tony opened them and said, "Andy Anderson and Jed I. Knight? Seriously?" he gave Pepper a look then that had her laughing.

"Seriously, Andy is the oldest of seven siblings has a lot of experience with childcare and was just honorably discharged from the air force due to injuries. Apparently you can't fly jets with a broken neck, but don't worry he is fully functional. He can walk and everything just can't turn his head very well anymore. Jed retired from the marines two years ago and has two teenagers. He is still in shape and has a lot of experience with children." Pepper said professionally.

"Alright, but I get free rein to harass them. Seriously, Mr. Anderson," Tony said with his best Mr. Smith voice, "And Jed I. Knight?" he continued with his best Yoda impersonation. Pepper just smiled laughing.

**~Tony~**

Tony rushed into his house hearing Harry's cries like a bullet straight into his heart. Anderson was looking harried doing a whole list of things to try and get Harry to calm down. Nothing seemed to be working and the sight of Tony only had Harry crying harder arms outstretched. Tony tried to get to him as quickly as possible but there were a whole slew of discarded toys in his way. The screaming picked up tempo and suddenly Tony found himself flying through the air landing in a heap besides Harry who crawled into his lap sniffling and whimpering.

Soon Harry calmed down and passed out energy drained from his all morning tantrum. Tony looked at Harry in surprise; his son's eyes were red and puffy. A trail of snot was draining from his tiny nose and Tony was sure that his little guy had a death grip on his now damp designer shirt. Tony looked to Anderson in confusion, mind strangely blank as he tried to comprehend what had just occurred. "Did my son just telepathically summon me across the room?" He asked Anderson incredulously.

Anderson was slumped on the ground, surrounded by toys, looking almost as lost as he felt and said, "Yeah…I think he did."

That seemed to snap Tony out of his daze and he situated himself better on the couch adjusting Harry so he was more comfortable. "What the hell happened?" Tony asked as he took in the hurricane mess that was his house.

"I tried everything on your list, the happy dance, tag, star wars, the building games, the jet game, color time, crafts, blueberries…everything! But as soon as he realized you weren't in the house anymore…I'd say about forty five minutes after you left…Harry went ballistic. Nothing…and I mean nothing seemed to be able to calm him down," Anderson said sadly as he began picking up the scattered toys.

Tony rocked Harry as his little boy whimpered in his sleep and the grip he had on his t-shirt got impossibly tighter. "Is it normal for kids to be so…well you know!" Tony asked as he took out his smart phone texting back Pepper.

Anderson looked at him and then sighed, "It is when they are used to having you around all the time, Harry will learn to be okay being away from you but it will take time…and a lot more tantrums before he will. My little sister Esme took four months before she could spend the day away from our mom without a major tantrum." He said as he began shoveling toys into the toy box.

His arms tightened as his heart clenched at the thought of having to hear Harry cry so inconsolably for so long. Tony wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, he couldn't take his little guy into business meetings and he certainly couldn't leave him home. Jarvis was programmed to give him a live feed if Harry started crying and Tony refused to adjust it. What if Harry got hurt and he needed him? Or Anderson turned out to be some psycho? He had to protect Harry!

Then there was the whole…telepathy thing…Anderson and Knight were under a mile long non-disclosure contract that insured they wouldn't be able to speak about anything having to do with Harry. So Tony wasn't so concerned about them blabbing to the wrong people about his son having powers…but Tony knew the military. He had grown up listening to his dad's stories (not that his dad knew) and Tony wasn't a fool. If they could get their hands on someone who they could make another viable 'super solider' serum from…well they would stop at nothing.

Tony had looked into Steve Rogers…how could he not? His father had spent most of his life looking for the guy's corpse, missing birthday for expeditions, graduations for research, and largely the man had been obsessed. It still left a bitter taste in his mouth thinking about the elusive Steve Rogers…the world's first super hero. Not because Tony had anything against the man…on the contrary Tony admired him to some extent…no Tony was bitter about his father's single minded pursuit of the man.

Since Rogers' was K.I.A. the military had pursued trying to replicate the serum that had created the man with a single minded voracity that was frankly alarming. Tony had point blank refused to pick up where his old man left off trying to unlock that particular secret…it was just too…cold. There was a laundry list of people who died slowly and very horribly from the military's attempts and Tony had enough red in his ledger from his weapon's manufacturing without adding this to his conscious.

The military had exhausted the blood that they had taken from Rogers…there was none left now to try and extract the secrets of the formula from. Tony had hoped that without that the human experimentation would slowly die off…but if the military got their hands on another with extraordinary talents…his arms tightened around Harry involuntarily. Well, Tony would make sure that never…**ever**…happened. He turned steel eyes on Anderson, "Needless to say _everything_ that happened today will be forgotten by you…otherwise the consequences will be more than what you can imagine…" Tony said as he left the threat unsaid.

Anderson paled, no doubt cataloguing the very, very, long list of weapons Tony had access to…not to mention the technology and political connections…it would be very easy for him to make someone disappear. Anderson nodded seriously falling unconsciously into a military at ready pose as he nodded seriously. "You have my word…on my honor sir…that I shall never speak of this again," he said. Tony nodded in satisfaction.

There was much to be done now, he would have to figure out a way to have Harry close but remain undiscovered. Besides, Harry's birthday was coming up in a month and Tony wanted everything to be prefect by then. That meant that he needed to work out the last few glitches on his EMP protective wraps so that Harry could actually enjoy the things he was going to make for him. For now, Tony decided he would postpone going back into work for another day and spend the rest of the day with his little mini-me.

He let Anderson finish cleaning up the house and changed into something more comfortable. Harry was wearing his Ewok pajamas still so Tony changed into that and settled down to enjoy a nap with him. When they both woke up around lunch time Tony pointedly ignored Anderson's barely stifled chuckles and played 'name that food' with Harry. Tony wasn't sure what his life had been before his baby boy had stormed into it…but he was sure of one thing…he couldn't ever go back to the way it had been. And he didn't want to either.

**~Pepper~**

Pepper was snapping pictures like crazy and made Jarvis take a lot alongside her as well. Harry was in Tony's lap and they were surrounded on all sides by prettily wrapped presents. The tiny party was Star Wars themed and everyone was in costume. Tony was dressed as Hans Solo, Harry was a mini Hans Solo, Pepper had somehow been roped into dressing as Princess Laya, Happy was making Chewbacca sounds from inside his fully decked out costume. Jed was dressed up as Obi one, and Anderson was at his side in a storm trooper get up.

All the presents were wrapped in Star Wars wrapping paper and Harry clapped happily every time Tony handed him one. Tony kept having trouble convincing Harry to take his presents and open them. Because Harry, being the incredibly sweet boy he is, kept trying to give his presents away to them. Tony finally got Harry to open one and it was a miniature replica of a light saber. Pepper was only mildly surprised when it turned out to be fully functional and Harry waved it around batting at presents giggling.

Tony was smirking until he saw her face and then he smiled sheepishly, "Don't worry! I locked the cutting function; it is as harmless as those god awful foam bat things." He said only to flinch as her eyes narrowed further.

"_But _there _**is**_ a _**cutting option**_, Tony!" Pepper hissed but pulled herself back when Harry blinked up at her questioningly. Pepper just softly handed Harry another present to distract him and glared furiously at Tony who shrugged unrepentantly. Still, the fact that the light saber _didn't_ blow up in a cloud of black smoke let Pepper know that Tony finally perfected his EMP shield. She began calculating when they should release the latest model and how much they should charge on it.

Pepper put all that out of her mind when Harry tried to give her another present and she had to spend a good twenty minutes convincing him that it was actually his. Then she got caught up snapping pictures again and contemplating compiling a photo album when she got a particularly endearing picture of Harry smearing Birthday cake all over Tony's face. It had been made to look like the Death Star and Harry was having a particularly gleeful time pretending he was Luke Skywalker blowing it up.

Tony had made them all light sabers so that they could play with Harry with them…Pepper would forever deny that tiny fan girl squeal when she got her own blue light saber. They had a blast doing mock battles…Harry won every one of course but it was still a lot more fun than any of them had expected. Pepper decided it wasn't so bad behaving childishly every so often. Obadiah sent Harry a card with a gift card to amazon that Pepper was a little miffed about since he didn't bother showing up.

He had taken that Tony had a (technically illegitimate) son rather well but Pepper could tell the man was uncomfortable. He made his excuses though, Obadiah had never had any children (never would if he had anything to say about it) and was decidedly uncomfortable dealing with small children. Tony let him keep his distance because Harry didn't seem to like him much though none of them could quite figure out why. As a pillow went zooming across the room Pepper ducked and was jolted out of her thoughts.

Since the first incident Tony had relayed to her about Harry moving him across the room Harry had shown a whole variety of unusual powers, from what appeared to be telepathy to transforming things into other things. Harry had turned her hair from its natural strawberry blonde to a very deep crimson red that she hadn't been able change. Her hair dresser was going slightly mad over it so Pepper had stopped trying a few days back.

Harry even seemed to be able to make things out of thin air…well that wasn't how Tony had put it but it was baffling nonetheless. Tony was having a field day trying to replicate Harry's feats and experimenting/encouraging Harry to do more. Harry was enjoying himself, though they both were a little concerned about how draining it seemed to be for Harry. Not to mention that Harry had managed to teleport himself into Tony's office one day when he was throwing a tantrum…so security was a real nightmare. Tony was sleeping even less than usual trying to figure out a way to attach a Jarvis/tracking system to Harry.

He was down to a few prototypes that looked like thin sliver bracelets but Tony was still having a problem with it fraying when introduced to long exposure to Harry's skin. If Pepper knew anything Tony wouldn't want to sell his EMP shielding system until he could manage to make one that could last through prolonged close exposure to Harry's skin. Though Pepper doubted Tony would sell _that_ version to the military. Harry's abilities were becoming a major concern for them not only because of the whole teleporting business…it was a concern since Harry seemed to be trying to replicate the feats of Jedi from Star Wars with frightening accuracy.

Already Harry had managed to use that 'Jedi mind trick thing' to get Jed to bring him to Tony's office and Anderson was reporting a suspicious gap in his memory as to how he had ended up painted purple one day. At the rate Harry was going, with him as well as dealing with Tony, Pepper was sure she would be getting premature grey hairs soon. Then Harry ran up and insisted she hold him for the rest of the night pointedly ignoring Tony's pouting. Pepper knew that no matter what, there was no way she could leave this little guy because later that night as she tucked him in he had grabbed her fingers in his tiny hand and said "Night mumma." Her heart very nearly exploded in her chest and Pepper had to stubbornly fight back tears.

Harry was just one of those kids that got right at your heart, it was hard not to love him and so Pepper didn't even try. She kissed his forehead and was gifted with a sight she had never thought she would see, a blushing Tony. Something about his warm expression and his uncharacteristic red cheeks made her blush in return. "Well, I **am** the only woman that has been around Harry for months…its natural he would get confused…his mother was a red head too wasn't she?" Pepper rambled.

Tony cleared his throat, "Uh, yeah," then he blushed, "I don't mind him calling you that but if you do I'll talk to him." He offered.

"No!" Pepper cringed at her loud voice and whispered, "No! That's okay, I don't mind," then she blushed and wondered why.

**A.N. Here it is! The much demanded update! Lol Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! You guys are seriously motivating! Thanks for giving my story a chance! On another note I am super excited to say that I will be launching my Kickstarter page for my children's book soon! Kickstarter dot com is a site where you can raise the funds you need for projects! I'm hoping to get enough support that I'll be able to print the first limited editions of my book myself before I send the work out to publishers! Super excited guys! Wish me luck! When I launch my page I'll put the link up on my profile so you guys can check it out! ^_^**


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